What’s the thing, Leafs coach Mike Babcock was asked over the weekend, that will make Josh Leivo a full-time NHLer?

“I think he is a full-time NHLer,” Babcock responded. “Didn’t he play in the NHL last year?”

Technically, yes.

Only Leivo didn’t actually play that much and while he will again be among the 23 players to crack the Maple Leafs final roster, the 24-year-old is facing an uncertain and potentially bleak future in Toronto.

Another year of Frankie Corrado-like limbo isn’t out of the question.

“Josh, once again, is involved in a question of numbers,” said Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello. “He’s a National Hockey League player. He just has to wait his time and go from there.”

Leivo has been waiting for some time now though, a man without any apparent island.

The product of Innisfil, Ont. wasn’t picked by this regime or even the one before it. In fact, Brian Burke was still...